Ester Ried eBook

And Ester, unused to it, and confused with her own
attempt, kept silence, and let poor Sadie rest upon
the thought that it was Florence’s goodness
which made her ready to die, instead of the blood
of Jesus.

So the time passed; the grass grew green over Florence’s
grave, and Sadie missed her indeed. Yet the serious
thoughts grew daily fainter, and Ester’s golden
opportunity for leading her to Christ was lost.

CHAPTER IV.

THE SUNDAY LESSON.

Alfred and Julia Ried were in the sitting-room, studying
their Sabbath-school lessons. Those two were
generally to be found together; being twins, they
had commenced life together, and had thus far
gone side by side. It was a quiet October Sabbath
afternoon. The twins had a great deal of business
on hand during the week, and the Sabbath-school lesson
used to stand a fair chance of being forgotten; so
Mrs. Ried had made a law that half an hour of every
Sabbath afternoon should be spent in studying the
lesson for the coming Sabbath. Ester sat in the
same room, by the window; she had been reading, but
her book had fallen idly in her lap, and she seemed
lost in thought Sadie, too, was there, carrying on
a whispered conversation with Minnie, who was snugged
close in her arms, and merry bursts of laughter came
every few minutes from the little girl. The idea
of Sadie keeping quiet herself, or of keeping any
body else quiet, was simply absurd.

“But I say unto you that ye resist not evil,
but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek,
turn to him the other also,” read Julia, slowly
and thoughtfully. “Alfred, what do you suppose
that can mean?”

“Don’t know, I’m sure,” Alfred
said. “The next one is just as queer:
’And if any man will sue thee at the law, and
take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.’
I’d like to see me doing that. I’d
fight for it, I reckon.”

“Oh, Alfred! you wouldn’t, if the Bible
said you mustn’t, would you?”

“I don’t suppose this means us at all,”
said Alfred, using, unconsciously, the well-known
argument of all who have tried to slip away from gospel
teaching since Adam’s time.

“I suppose it’s talking to those wicked
old fellows who lived before the flood, or some such
time.”

“Well, anyhow,” said Julia, “I
should like to know what it all means. I wish
mother would come home. I wonder how Mrs. Vincent
is. Do you suppose she will die, Alfred?”

“Don’t know—­just hear this,
Julia! ’But I say unto you, Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you and pray for them which despitefully use you and
persecute you.’ Wouldn’t you like
to see anybody who did all that?”

“Sadie,” said Julia, rising suddenly,
and moving over to where the frolic was going on,
“won’t you tell us about our lesson?
We don’t understand a bit about it; and I can’t
learn any thing that I don’t understand.”